Proposition 38 harms who it hopes to help

Our quality of education is in danger, and every student on this campus should know it.

But Proposition 38 is not the way to go.

Everyone with an eye to the news has heard it.

A new tax initiative has to be passed or automatic trigger cuts (amounting to $6 billion) will go into effect, according to the Huffington Post.

These cuts would shorten school years for K-12 students and increase fees for higher education students– many of whom are already strapped for cash or possibly in debt based on the current figures– putting student debt at more than $1 trillion.

This is where Prop. 38, or Molly Munger’s “Tax for Education” measure will put us.

The first impression voters get from commercials about the proposition are very favorable.

Happy music, children saying they want their teachers to come back, promises of funding for education– the commercial has it all.

Indeed, Prop. 38 would bring in an estimated $10 billion, $6 billion of which would go to education, the rest going towards the State debt or child care and preschool programs.

But what is continuously not mentioned is the most important part of the proposition: Where does this money come from?

It comes from everyone. Or everyone with an income over $7,316 a year, rather.

All people who pay income taxes will have their taxes raised by from .4 percent to 2.2 percent.

With poverty at an all-time high, according to Think Progress, this cannot be considered a “good idea.”

Most people are not millionaires, they are working class.

There are many working class people struggling out there who are worrying about how to pay for necessities– tuition, how to pay rent, how to pay for electricity– who cannot afford higher taxes on their income.

Yet Molly Munger, who personally funded more than $30 million in favor of this proposition, believes that this is the correct way to improve our schools.

Students cannot be expected to get the full value of their education if they are worrying about how they will survive from day to day.

How will K12 students be able to focus on their work when they see their parents struggle?

How will college or university students be able to study for classes if they have to work extra shifts?

Furthermore, this proposition would not stop the automatic cuts anyway, and would still fail to add one cent in funding to schools for 18 months, according to the Press Telegram.

Proposition 38 harms exactly who it aims to help, and does a disservice to the workers of California

Workers should oppose this proposition in favor of one of the other two tax initiatives on the ballot.

You have as much power as you are willing to exercise.

“Not a light bulb shines, not a telephone rings, not a wheel turns without the kind permission of the working class,” as Alan Woods once said.